A Legacy of Partnership in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq – I Corps has developed a training package to assist Soldiers in understanding their role in a changing Iraq.

"The shift to stability operations … fundamentally alters the way we need to think. It will likewise fundamentally change our behavior," said Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., I Corps commanding general and USF-I deputy commanding general of operations.

Today's officers, noncommissioned officers, and Soldiers in Iraq fulfill front-line, nonstandard roles by negotiating with tribal leaders, training Iraqi Security Forces, and assisting provincial reconstruction teams as they build essential services for the populace. These Soldiers may be the only contact with Americans that Iraqis will ever have. Therefore, each U.S. Soldier has a role in America's enduring partnership in Iraq.

"From private to captain and higher, remember that you are an ambassador for your country and might be the only representative that an Iraqi Soldier, Iraqi police officer or 12-year-old Iraqi boy gets to see from the American public," said Capt. Scott Eden, USF-I key leader engagement officer. "It is a large responsibility for a Soldier."

Eden is one of several Soldiers in the video that describes his deployment experiences. The biggest change he has seen since his last deployment is the ISF planning and execution of missions by the ISF on their own, which will allow the U.S. to draw down forces in Iraq.

U.S. forces continue to advise and assist their ISF partners as they prepare for the upcoming national elections in March 2010.

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